paradise

Ah, to be back from vacation is the worst. We had a week in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado and a few great nights in Denver. But it feels like when you get back, you just have so much work to do between unpacking, laundry, catching up on sleep, etc. But I wouldn't trade that for the world. We started out our adventure around 4:00 on Friday afternoon with Jon and Jordan. We left Ames, headed to Des Moines to pick up Zach's sisters camera and then we were off to Phillipsburg, Kansas to visit my sister Maddie and Ethan. It was so good to see them both, it seems like it's been forever since I've seen either of them. We only got to spend one evening and a half day with Maddie, but it was worth it. We went out for lunch on Saturday afternoon then we were on our way to Denver! The drive seemed to go faster than I thought it would. We listened to music, I finished a few books, and just had a good time. We arrived in Denver around 4 and took it easy with Zach's aunt Trish, her husband Buddy, and their adorable son Otto for the rest of the evening. The next morning we woke up and Buddy wanted to take us on a hike at Chief mountain. That was the first time I've done a full-on hike. It was a lot of fun and definitely worth it to get to the top. Later on that day, Alex and Barb arrived and we all went to Fogo de Chao for dinner. (One of my top 3 favorite moments of the trip!) The next day we were off to Estes Park! We arrived at our beautiful condo and spent the evening there. The next few days were full of hikes, great meals, swimming, hot tubbing, and tourist shopping. I won't go into too many details about the trip but I will say that it was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back again. On the last Friday we were there, Zach and I decided to stay for an extra evening. We drove to Boulder and did some shopping then stayed at Buddy and Trish's for the evening. Trish took us to downtown Denver for some amazing mexican and a Colorado Rockies game! It was such a great time. We saw a double rainbow AND the Rockies won! Before we left on Saturday we were able to go to Red Rocks and it was absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to get back out there and attend a concert with Zach.

All in all, I think this trip really helped our relationship grow and it was just such a great experience for us to say we got to do together. Another vacation coming soon! (Hopefully)

thanks for reading and have a great week! xoxo